Archives of Photos

Photo taken at Chascomús

After a quick stop in Buenos Aires, I headed south to a smaller city called Chacosmus. Here an ancestor of mine arrived from Basilicata when he was just 15 years old and gave birth to a big Chiacchio family in Argentina. Years ago I met one of his descendants, Marcelo, on Facebook and now I finally met him in person. Marcelo helped me finding a traditional gaucho family in the Argentinian pampa that would host me in its household for a week. This place is so peaceful
6 years ago

Photo taken at Salar de uyuni

Leaving the salar and heading to Argentina. Visiting this unique place was really inspiring and useful to understand how in some places tourism and the exploitation of natural resources can coexist
6 years ago

Photo taken at Río Grande, Potosi, Bolivia

In the Southern area of Salar de Uyuni you find the village of Rio Grande. This town is historically connected to the mining of borax, but today a new upcoming activity is becoming more and more important: the extraction of lithium. Just a few kilometers from town a still relatively small mine is extracting the mineral, which is so precious for today battery technology. Experts say the Salar holds 50% of the world lithium resources. So if the demand of lithium rises (especially with the development of the electric car market in China) this place could become a huge mine, possibly extending to other parts of the salar
6 years ago

Photo taken at Salar de uyuni

At night the salar offers and incredible show. I’ve never seen such a clear night sky in a such a flat landscape. The faint lights of the few small towns around the salar are barely disturbing this natural spectacle. However there’s is a bigger threat to this incredible place
6 years ago

Photo taken at Salar de uyuni

The main activity in the Salar de Uyuni, especially in the Colchani side, is the mining of salt. Local workers mould the salt into piles so it dries and come back to load it on trucks days later to bring to small workshops in town
6 years ago

Photo taken at Isla Flotante Uros Kontiki

I’m now continuing to Bolivia. It was such an experience to spend some days (and nights) on the floating islands. They truly are a marvel of simple, ancestral engineering. Uros weave totora roots together to form a sturdy 2 meters thick base layer and then cover the whole thing with more of the plant. To hold them in place, the islands are anchored to the lake bed using long pointy sticks and long ropes. A well kept island can last up to 30 years, sometimes 40. However the strong presence of tourist means more maintenance work
6 years ago

Photo taken at Islas Flotantes De Los Uros

Today, about 2000 Uros (or Uru) live on an archipelago of 120 artificial islands, clustering in the West corner of the lake Titicaca near Puno. In the last fifteen years the islands have become a popular tourist attraction, allowing Felix here and his people to supplement their hunting and fishing activities by welcoming visitors to the islands, selling handicrafts and sharing their way of life. So far this has proven to be a good thing, allowing their culture to survive with a small outside contamination
6 years ago

Photo taken at Islas Flotantes De Los Uros

The Uros people spend all their life floating on the water of lake Titicaca. Everything from the island floor, to the houses walls and boats is made using totora, a giant bulrush sedge that grows on the lake. The habitats of these islands depend for subsistence mainly on the small fish and duck eggs they catch around the lake
6 years ago